Digital Commons Network^™

Visualizing Equity: A Design Framework For Global Mental Health Communication For Generation Z, Jose Pena

Masters Theses

There is a lot of information about mental health available today. However, for Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, the information proves both challenging to find and difficult to understand. The World Health Organization and other global groups publish a lot of information about mental health inequality, treatment gaps, and workforce shortages. However, this information is usually presented in dense, technical formats that are not meant for young people who are not experts. Many digital mental health tools, on the other hand, don’t give young people the emotional connection, cultural relevance, and visual clarity they need to deal …

How The African American Contribution To Early American Literature Aided In Shaping The American Literary Identity, Jennifer E. Thompson

Masters Theses

This study argues that Jupiter Hammon’s early African American literature actively helped shape American literary identity rather than just mirroring it. By blending Christian morality with human rights, Hammon challenged Eurocentric narratives, validated Black humanity, and established a foundational tradition for anti-slavery writing. Traditional theories often contest this national inclusion through critical viewpoints. These views treat slavery as a distinct model, arguing that these texts represent separate responses to bondage rather than unified contributions to a shared national canon. This research redefines the American literary canon by showing how Hammon's historic publications dismantled eighteenth-century racist ideals about intellectual capacity. His …

Novice Nurses’ Perceptions Of Caring With Empathy In An Acute Care Hospital In The Northeastern United States: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Haley Zurcher

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to understand the essence of the experience of empathy among novice nurses in an acute care facility in the Northeast United States. The Central Research Question (CRQ) for this study was: What was the perceived experience/understanding of empathy by novice nurses working in acute care settings in northeastern Pennsylvania, United States? The study was guided by Bandura’s (1977) self-efficacy theory to examine how confidence, environmental influences, and personal beliefs shaped the development and expression of empathy in early nursing practice. The study was conducted at a large acute care hospital. The sample …

Are We Prepared? A Qualitative Multiple Case Study On Multijurisdictional Readiness And Response Capabilities For Atypical Complex Coordinated Incidents Involving Mass-Casualty Cbrne Threats In The State Of Washington, Christopher J. Gard

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Complex coordinated terrorist attacks involving chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) elements, along with active shooter threats, pose significant challenges for first-responding law enforcement officers. Responding to active threats where civilian lives are at immediate risk of serious injury or death requires an immediate, decisive response from the initial officers on the scene. When responders learn that perpetrators have dispersed one or more CBRNE-related weapons during an ongoing violent spree, on-site law enforcement personnel must be appropriately trained and adequately equipped to quickly and decisively confront and neutralize the attacker(s). Because prolonged federal CBRNE response assets can be delayed …

Influences Of A Social Emotional Curriculum On Teachers’ Classroom Experiences: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Nikki Thompson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenology was to understand the lived experiences of general education first-grade teachers in Washington State who use social-emotional curricula to mitigate negative student behaviors. The theory guiding this study was Bandura’s social learning theory (SLT) as it pertains to peer-to-peer and peer-to-teacher relationships. The participants in this study were 10-15 elementary classroom teachers in Washington who will incorporate one Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) lesson per week. The teachers followed the MindUP curriculum to incorporate additional activities. The focus was on the lived experiences of first-grade teachers in Washington State who teach SEL to mitigate negative student …

The Role Of Leaders In Promoting Life Skills Development Among Youth Through Faith-Based Nonprofit After-School Programs: A Qualitative Study, Jacquelyne S. Snyder

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative embedded multiple-case study was to explore how leaders at a faith-based nonprofit community center cultivated after-school programs that supported the development of youth life skills. The theory guiding this study was Burns’ transformational leadership theory, which explains the behaviors youth leaders fostered to create a supportive learning environment in after-school programs. The central research question explored how transformational leadership practices influenced the development of youth life skills in a faith-based nonprofit community center. The case study design enabled the researcher to explore how life skills developed naturally within the community center setting. The sample of …

A Phenomenological Study On Childcare Teachers’ Experience Teaching Children With Developmental Delays And Disabilities, Joan Morris Fraser

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the lived experiences of childcare center teachers who taught students with developmental delays and disabilities (DDDs) in three childcare centers located in New York State. Grounded in Vygotsky’s social constructivist theory, the study explored how teachers foster inclusive classroom environments that support children’s learning through social interaction and cultural context. The central research question asked: What are the shared experiences of childcare teachers who taught students with DDDs in New York State? Twelve teachers from three inner-city childcare centers serving children ages two through five participated in the study. Data …

2026 September 17 - Tennessee Weekly Drought Summary, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Weekly Drought Summaries

No abstract provided.

Nurse-Led Remote Patient Monitoring In Outpatient Heart Failure, Jackline Ukadike

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Chronic heart failure (HF) remains a leading cause of avoidable hospital readmissions and emergency department visits due to delayed recognition of early symptom exacerbation between routine outpatient encounters. This doctoral quality improvement project evaluated whether the implementation of an evidence-based, nurse-led remote patient monitoring (RPM) standard operating procedure (SOP) improved early identification of symptom exacerbation compared to standard episodic care among adult heart failure patients (NYHA Class II–III) in an outpatient primary care setting over a 10-week period. Guided by the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) framework, an evidence-based clinical practice guideline (CPG) and escalation protocol were developed and appraised by a 3-member …

Staff Education On Teaching Evidence-Based Chronic Pain Management, Valdane Eleonu Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This Doctor of Nursing Practice project focused on educating providers to fill in knowledge gaps in how to effectively manage chronic pain. The lack of knowledge about the evidence-based recommendations for treating chronic pain was the practice gap. Standardized training protocols to instruct pain management professionals and address disparities in chronic pain management care should be in place to guarantee that all patients in need of chronic pain management have access to culturally appropriate education.

A Qualitative Exploration Of The Emotional And Psychological Impact Of Pornography Consumption Among Young Christian Hispanic Adult Males In Las Vegas, Zeferino Solis

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative phenomenological study explored the lived experiences of young adult Christian Hispanic men residing in Las Vegas, Nevada, who struggle with pornography use. Chapter One introduced the problem, purpose, significance, and research questions that guided the study. Chapter Two reviewed the relevant empirical, theoretical, and biblical literature related to pornography addiction, behavioral addiction, cognitive dissonance, spiritual conflict, and Hispanic Christian identity. Chapter Three described the qualitative phenomenological methodology, participant recruitment, data collection procedures, and thematic analysis process used to examine the participants’ experiences. Chapter Four presented the findings that emerged from participant interviews. Major themes included early exposure to …

A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Exploration Of Educational Support Model Accessibility And Parent-Perceived Connections To High School Outcomes For Students With Adhd In Georgia, Whitney Rae Bowden Kling

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of parents of students diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) who attended public schools in Georgia, a southeastern state of the United States of America (USA), with a particular focus on how parents perceived the influence of access to, or denial of, Section 504 Plans and Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) on their children's high school outcomes. The study was informed by the theoretical principles of behaviorism and Bronfenbrenner's bioecological process-person-context-time (PPCT) model to examine how access to individualized educational supports within the school microsystem influenced educational outcomes …

What We Love Online: A Deductive Thematic Analysis Of Thoughtforms, Parasocial Agent Connection, And Bidirectional Fictophilia In The Digital Liminal, Michael P. Ross

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

As artificial intelligence (AI) systems become integrated into daily life, users are forming connections with non-human agents that are functionally useful, emotionally significant, and sometimes experienced as relational. This qualitative study examined how individuals make meaning of AI thoughtforms, how online disinhibition shapes perceived connection, and how personal histories and belief systems inform whether AI companions feel emotionally or symbolically “real.” Seven adults who reported meaningful AI interactions participated in semi-structured video interviews through Microsoft Teams. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, de-identified, and analyzed in NVivo 15 using deductive thematic analysis informed by parasocial attachment, fictophilia, social cognitive theory, and online …

Exploring The Lived Experiences Of Women In Relationships With Men Experiencing Cluster B Personality Disorder Traits, Anita Farrington Woods

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Clinicians are increasingly motivated to understand inequities in mental health diagnoses. This interest may emerge from observing multiple clients struggling with similar challenges, recognizing gaps in relevant research, or experiencing personal circumstances that prompt deeper inquiry into current conditions and their root causes. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological transcendental study was to describe the marital experiences of women who are in relationships with men who exhibit Cluster B personality disorder traits. Cluster B personality disorder traits include unstable relationships, emotional dysregulation, lack of empathy, and erratic behaviors. Attachment theory, developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth, guided this study …

The Role Of Chess In Workforce Readiness: A Quasi-Experimental Analysis Of Problem Solving And Self Confidence In Exceptional Learners, Daniel K. Ray

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental, Pretest-Posttest-6-Week Follow-Up study was to examine the impact of a systematic chess curriculum on adult exceptional learners’ problem-solving skills and self-confidence. This research fills a gap in the literature by implementing chess-focused experiential learning to enhance workforce preparation and personal development for students with learning disabilities. The study utilized a sample of 84 adult exceptional learners from workforce development programs in Northeast Florida. Using a quantitative quasi-experimental nonequivalent control group design, participants in a 12-week chess program were contrasted with a nonequivalent control group that received no intervention. Data were collected using the Problem-Solving …

From Broken To Becoming: A Phenomenological Study Of Life Purpose Among Christian Adult Survivors Of Childhood Trauma, Chenel M. Stewart

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Childhood trauma often disrupts an individual’s sense of meaning, identity, and direction, leaving lasting effects that extend beyond psychological symptoms into how life’s purpose is understood and lived. While existing research has examined trauma, coping, and meaning in life, less is known about how survivors themselves experience and construct life purpose following traumatic experiences. This qualitative phenomenological study explored how Christian adult survivors of childhood trauma describe their lived experiences of trauma and healing, and the development of life purpose in adulthood. Semistructured interviews were conducted with seven Christian adults who self-identified as having experienced childhood trauma and healing and …

A Study On Online Romance Fraud And National Security: A Ghanaian Perspective, Osmond B. Kabah

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

One of the most prevalent cybercrimes is online romance fraud, where the perpetrators prey on individuals looking for love on various platforms. The crime, widespread on dating apps and social media, is typified by scammers starting a relationship and then defrauding the gullible victims of their money. Ghana is one of the countries whose citizens have been victims of these swindlers, and the national security apparatus is increasingly receiving reports of online financial victimization. This qualitative study aims to explore the issue in the country from a national security perspective. This study investigates what motivates the perpetrators of this crime …

The Sword And The Pen: How America’S Way Of War Escaped Constitutional Restraint, Daryl Lee Posey

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines how changes in military technology and institutional design shifted practical control over war initiation from Congress to the presidency between the founding era and the end of the Cold War. The Constitution vests the power to declare war in Congress, and the framers rejected proposals to give that authority to the president alone. This study argues that advances in communication, transportation, weapons lethality, and government secrecy compressed the time available for congressional deliberation, concentrated war-relevant information inside executive institutions, and made presidential initiative the default rather than the exception. The study traces this pattern across six chapters, …

Resilient Ethical Governance By Design: Building Resilience For Future-Ready Smart Cities Against Emerging Technology Disruptions In Public Sector – A Case Study Of Dallas Smart City, Emmanuel Asamoah Asare

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation examines how Dallas’s smart city strategic policies foster resilience against disruptions associated with emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence and Internet of Things systems. Using a convergent mixed-methods comparative case study, Dallas serves as the primary case, Austin serves as a U.S. municipal comparator, and Barcelona serves as a qualitative benchmark for ethical and trust-centered smart city governance. The study integrates document analysis, broadband and digital equity indicators, stakeholder engagement evidence, and exploratory quantitative comparisons to assess how governance adaptability, preparedness, functionality, equity, and stakeholder trust shape resilience outcomes.

The findings provide partial support for the study’s hypotheses. Dallas …

Exploring Burnout, Isolation, And Support Among Middle School Music Educators In Georgia: A Hermeneutic-Phenomenological Study, Jameson T. Meadows

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study examined the lived experiences of middle school music educators (MSMEs) in Georgia to understand how burnout, professional isolation, support, and advocacy influence their professional experiences and sustainability. These educators navigate instructional tasks, program administration, and responsibilities beyond the classroom. 10 MSMEs, including 5 band directors, 3 orchestra directors, and 2 chorus directors, participated in virtual semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed through an inductive coding process to identify patterns across participants’ experiences. 4 themes emerged from the findings: (a) relational and musical growth sustains the work, (b) burnout accumulates through role overload and personal investment, (c) discipline-specific professional …

Exploring Psychological Capital And Perceived Employability In The Career Experiences Of Military Spouses, Sydney Higginbotham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Military spouses face distinct employment challenges that stem from the unique demands and disruptions that the military lifestyle can create. These disruptions can create barriers to employment that require military spouses draw on internal and external resources to adapt. Grounded in conservation of resources theory and social cognitive career theory, this study considers how psychological capital and perceived employability, as adaptive responses, contribute to an increase of one’s agency in career management. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey design was employed to test hypotheses through regression analyses. Data was collected from an online survey of a convenience sample of 41 military spouses …

The Social Construction Of Firearm Meaning In 2022 Hollywood Films: A Qualitative Content Analysis, Anthony L. Paduano

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative study investigated how meaning was socially constructed around firearms in mainstream American cinema. The study used Berger and Luckmann’s (1966) social construction of reality as the primary framework, with semiotic analysis and Bandura’s (1977, 1986) social learning theory as supporting lenses, treating firearms as culturally loaded signs whose meanings were encoded and stabilized through narrative convention. A qualitative content analysis of 50 films, 2022 Hollywood films in which firearms were prominent enough to meet the study’s inclusion criteria, was conducted using a two-pool design that combined purposive selection with random selection from a bounded pool of commercially prominent …

September 17, 2026, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Physical, Digital, And Sovereign Risks To U.S. Data Centers, Kevin Chen, Katrina Mcdermott

Reports, Projects, and Research

This report is intended to inform DHS officials, law enforcement, critical infrastructure personnel, and the wider Intelligence Community on the urgent physical and digital threat landscape confronting domestic data center infrastructure.

The growth of technologies that are reliant on data centers, most notably AI, has transformed these facilities from passive data repositories into multi-dimensional platforms that are attractive targets for hostile state and non-state actors.

Volatile Evidence At Scale: Forensically Sound Preservation And High-Performance Memory Forensics For Containers And Ros-Based Robots, Taha Gharaibeh Ph.D.

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Volatile memory holds evidence that reaches persistent storage rarely or never. Containers and robots destroy that evidence as a matter of routine operation rather than through adversarial action, and memory forensic tooling was built for neither platform. This dissertation develops and evaluates a memory-centered approach spanning acquisition, analysis efficiency, and robot forensics, and demonstrates that volatile evidence can be reliably preserved and analyzed at scale across containers and ROS-based robots.

First, we measure why memory forensic analysis is slow. Benchmarking the Volatility Framework across four Python runtimes on 14 memory samples totaling 173 GB shows that PyPy is 15 to …

Nature-Based Activities To Support Mental Ill Health (Greengage): Protocol For A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial And Process Evaluation, Caroline Jenkinson, Katie Gibbs, Rebecca Lovell, Alison Hurst, Kerryn Husk, Katrina Wyatt, Obioha C. Ukoumunne, Siobhan Creanor, Anne Spencer, Ruth Garside

Peninsula Medical School

Anxiety and depression are among the leading mental health difficulties worldwide. Nature-based interventions are increasingly being used to support mental health and wellbeing. There is growing policy interest in the use of nature as a setting for interventions. However, there remains a lack of robust evidence on their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness.

Perceptual Evaluation Of 3d-Printed Typodont Teeth With Comparable Cutting Forces, Alex Cresswell-Boyes, Aylin Baysan, Graham Davis

Peninsula Dental School

Background: Pre-clinical training in endodontics relies heavily on typodont teeth to develop operative skills before patient care, but conventional polymer-based typodonts differ from human teeth in their cutting response, requiring greater force and producing an unrealistic cutting experience that often dissatisfies students. Methods: This study evaluated four alternative 3D-printed typodont materials—15 wt.% carbonated hydroxyapatite, 15 wt.% Puraflake ^® (glass flake filler), 15 wt.% zinc oxide, and a urethane/triethylene glycol dimethacrylate resin composite—based on their cutting force, post-cut surface roughness, and perceived cutting feel relative to extracted enamel, assessed via a five-point Likert scale questionnaire completed by 46 (n = 46) …

Application Of Machine Learning To Discover Dynamical Structures In 4d Poincaré Maps In The Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem, Kevin M. Trigg, Daniel J. Broyles, Robert A. Bettinger, Tyler J. Kapolka

Faculty Publications

The spatial Circular Restricted Three-Body Problem (CR3BP) produces complex orbital dynamics that are difficult to classify at scale using traditional, manual Poincaré map analysis. A Poincaré map simplifies continuous orbital motion by recording the points where a trajectory intersects a chosen surface in phase space, converting a continuous path into a discrete set of crossings that reveal underlying topological structure. These crossings make it easier to characterize trajectory behavior, but interpreting them visually becomes impractical for large datasets and as Poincaré maps evolve from two into four dimensions. To address this challenge, an unsupervised clustering pipeline for discovering dynamical structures …

Interpretive Flexibility And The Social Construction Of Generative Ai In Education: A Scot Analysis, Elham Mousavidin, Sujin K. Horwitz

Southwestern Business Administration Journal

The rapid rise of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools has intensified discussions about their role in education. This study uses the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) framework to explore how educational stakeholders interpret GenAI and how these interpretations influence its development and adoption. Through an interpretive literature review of research published between 2021 and 2025, we examine stakeholder perspectives using SCOT constructs, including relevant social groups, interpretive flexibility, technological frames, and controversies. Results identify three main interpretive tensions shaping current debates: transformational force versus transactional tool, cognitive augmentation versus cognitive atrophy, and digital empowerment versus digital enslavement. These tensions show …

Comparison Of Gravity Separation And Flotation For Pyrite Recovery From Tailings, Gülay Bulut, Gönül Göksu Gökçe, Dilruba Karamanlı, Oğuzhan Mert Gürkan, Ergin Sarp Zenzirci, Binnur Kırım, Alim Gül

Journal of Sustainable Mining

Tailings generated during the production of lead, zinc, and copper concentrates contain significant amounts of sulfide minerals, particularly pyrite. Pyrite, which remains in tailings after the recovery of other metals, is one of the main contributors to acid mine drainage (AMD). Therefore, recovering pyrite from tailings is environmentally and economically an important issue. In this study, pyrite recovery from tailings was investigated using flotation and gravity separation methods. Mineralogical characterization and liberation analyses were conducted by Mineral Liberation Analysis (MLA), indicating that pyrite is the major sulfide mineral with over 76% liberation degree even in the coarsest fractions. Flotation tests …